The iPod Comet orbits the Earth in a biannual rotation, bringing new devices and attendant accessories into our view every Spring and Fall. The constellation is followed by a set of third-party developers and manufacturers who bolster the cloud as it swings into view and then disappear as the excitement wears off, relegating the devices to CostCos and Sam’s Clubs until the next rotation. But this season the orbit brought an anomaly: the Palm Pre, a device that is ostensibly compatible with the cloud, namely iTunes, but is definitely not of Apple’s world.
The Pre, as you’ll remember, masquerades as an iTunes-compatible device, a feature that Apple promises will soon be remedied through software updates. To this Palm replied:
“Palm’s media sync works with the current version of iTunes,” Palm spokesperson Lynn Fox told me. “If Apple chooses to disable media sync in a future version of iTunes, it will be a direct blow to their users who will be deprived of a seamless synchronization experience. However, people will have options. They can stay with the iTunes version that works to sync their music on their Pre, they can transfer the music via USB, and there are other third-party applications we could consider.”
So they’re hedging their bets. Like Musavi, Palm is looking for youth support to change to an unpopular regime but if the 50,000 people who bought Pres don’t care – which they won’t – they always can build a syncing app. No big deal.
But it is a big deal. As Devin pointed out, Apple hates freedom and Apple fans support that idea of a closed system with abandon, even if it goes against many of their principles. But why? Because Apple owns its own market and when folks try to horn in, be they Psystar or Palm, they realize how precarious their position is. They diluted their brand once, during the PowerPC days, and the resulting mess nearly destroyed the company. Apple, in short, has done what every CE manufacturer has tried to do for the past two decades but, contrary to their competitors efforts, they have succeeded. They created client lock-in, a sort of smothering bear-hug that convinces customers that they aren’t being slowly choked to death.
We’re big Mactards here at CG and TC. Why? Because, in lieu of hiring an IT support team we just buy Macs. That’s partly due to hardware quality – I rarely have to repair my Mac and they hold their resale value – and partly due to Apple’s marketing. Now that they’ve grabbed us they can push all sorts of garbage down our throats (iPod Shuffle, anyone) and we’ll eat it up, taking the good with the bad. And that kind of brand loyalty costs money and effort and Apple isn’t about to let the Palm Pre ride on its good will and install base.
Third parties can pay to join in the Apple party but they can’t crash it. This we’ve discovered over and over again. Apple acts like a media company more than a hardware company. They have gathered a following and now sell access to that following by allowing manufacturers to create devices to their exacting specifications. Woe betide thee if you try to hack the system. Like a media company, Apple has great lawyers.
No way in hell is Apple going to allow third party devices to become compatible with iTunes.
I can already see the bi-monthly ’security’ updates coming.
Couldn’t apple make money of the pre then with itunes sales? Are people really going to make that the determining factor of buying a pre? If I liked the pre and itunes didn’t work I might just stop buying any new songs on itunes. go use amazon DRM free or something..
true, but apple doesnt make that much money by selling songs on itunes. A lot of it goes to the artist and their publishers. They make more by selling products like the ipod.
For the last time…. iTUNES IS DRM FREE!!!!! You can buy songs on iTunes and transfer them to your Pre, Palm, WinMo, or iRiver and even your Zune. You just have to use their software gateway to do it, not the one Apple owns.
Fords and Chevys can both buy gas at the same Exxon, but should go to the dealership for service.
But it is not about if you can do it, it is all about convenience and simplicity. Fore most non-geeks it is too much of a roadblock if they have to install extra software or go through import procedures. Remember there were plenty of MP3 players around pre iPod but integration and ease of use is what drove Apples crusade through the music industry.
How I make iTunes on Linux? :(
“We’re big Mactards here at CG and TC. Why? Because, in lieu of hiring an IT support team we just buy Macs. That’s partly due to hardware quality – I rarely have to repair my Mac”
Other computers also do that, aside from the brands HP, Dell, and others there are some great brands that make computers that have superb quality that aren’t known by the masses; just say you buy Macs because of OSX and the hardware is a plus on top of OSX
Anyway I’ve got to give it to Palm that actually made itunes think the pre is an ipod wonder how long they were working on that one and since it had been done what is stopping all the Chinese knockoffs from doing the same thing.
It would only have taken them, like five minutes to code it :P They had Rubenstein :D
Well, Apple has poured a lot of money into the development of iTunes and the iPhone. i think it’s their right to do with it what they want. I don’t think the fact that they’re the dominate player should make a difference in this case.
It seems strange to be ultra-critical and yet not be willing to change phones as a way of showing you stand behind your words. Change starts with you, John! Prove your point and go out there and buy a Pre today and show us a video of you destroying your iPhone in protest!
“Apple acts like a media company more than a hardware company.”
If they are a hardware company, then why should they let someone else’s hardware work on their system?
I wonder how much of the MP3/online music sales market Apple has to control, and then take malicious actions to lock others out of their platforms, before Jobs is rocking back and forth uncomfortably in front of an anti-trust hearing?
I’m just saying that when Microsoft did the same thing…
I wonder if the EU are ‘Mactards’ or if they’ll see this as a new piggy bank to make periodic withdrawals, now that Microsoft has decided to stop shipping IE bundled with Windows.
I don’t know why everyone is so up in arms about this….if they allow other devices to use itunes they lose exclusivity. Why would you do that on the number one sync software for the number one music device(s)?
Makes perfect sense to me….
Yeah it makes perfect sinse from a business point of view and I completly agree with you there.
From a consumer point of view, why did microsoft have anti-trust lawsuits placed against them for their operating system being to exclusive and apple is above reproach with itunes exclusivity?
Truth is that Apple is the trendy anti-Microsoft and can get away with a lot for now.
semi-annual.
No where in the link article did Apple promise anything. Stop trying to use scare tactic language and just report what the article said. I’ll even help you.
“The Pre, as you’ll remember, masquerades as an iTunes-compatible device, a feature that Apple says they do not officially support or test and may do away with in the future.”
If YOU think they’ll disable the ability of Pre to sync, then say YOU think so. Don’t try to take Apple’s words and put the spin you think should be there.
I’m not sure I understand the business case for Apple. This gives them a larger audience for their content, and iTunes is a free piece of software. If someone were allowing iPods to sync with some other media software, I can understand the move to block, but why should Apple care if it loses exclusivity?
No one I’ve ever talked to bought an iPod because it came with iTunes. In fact, most people hate iTunes. So this seems like it only has positive effects on their revenue, unless, of course, someone were to skip buying a Pre because it didn’t connect with iTunes (which I seriously doubt).
The problem for me is not Apple’s stupidity or lack thereof, it’s why on earth would Palm cede a strategic part of the user experience to Apple or anyone else?
Apple can afford a couple of business blunders. Palm can’t.
I’m really glad I’m not locked into Apple’s proprietary junk. I have no intention of using iTunes on my Palm Pre. I already have loaded dozens of non-DRM MP3’s onto my Palm Pre, and I’m enjoying listening to them over stereo Bluetooth headphones. MP3’s work on any player with any software, and they are easy to copy between comptuters and devices.
BTW, I’ve been playing MP3’s on older Palm phones since well before there was ever an iTunes. Apple directs its marketing at people who are not aware of available technologies to make them think they have to buy Apple products to listen to music. Suckers!
Exactly. Why would Palm waste development money and PR linking the Pre to iTunes without some kind of license. Apple will never care if Pre works with iTunes and when it breaks, then Palm and Pre just set their customers up for a crappola user experience.
Come on Palm. Be a man, and code your own software. Don’t let Apple screw around with your precious child.
Mac who?
Why are they going to lock out the Pre? Because they’re communists and they hate freedom.
You morons. Because it’s their damn system and they can damn well do whatever the hell they want with it. Imagine if you were member at an exclusive club and everything’s well and then some hobo sneaks in by showing the incredibly stupid bouncer a fake ID. Would you buy him a drink or would you like to have him thrown out? See.
Well, the fact that Apple products are ten times more expensive than anything else, no wonder they’re hardware is good?
I have an Asus netbook running windows and I paid a quarter of the price than someone pays for a big ass mac, and its a quarter of the footprint and 3 times the battery life.
As much as I like apple, products are way, way too expensive and I find it rediculous that everyone pays like 200 bucks for a meezly 16 gb ipod when they can get the same sized one for half that or less…
It’s all true, but you never get the same UI
And that’s included in the price…
So what? A UI that assumes I can’t read and insists I do everything based on icons? I’ve been reading for nearly 40 years, thank you. LOL – I don’t need Apple to read FOR me. . .
Believe it or not – some people actually DO NOT LIKE the Apple UI. My OSX UI is heavily modified so I can use it comfortably – or I just move over to my Windows machine and use it.
Then buy a WinMo handset and have fun reading the menus
There are A LOT, I mean A LOT.
So, you can get a full featured 15″ laptop for $200? Cause that would make it 10 times more expensive to get a Macbook Pro. Or can you get a 16GB flash based video capable media player for $20? Cause that would make it 10 times more expensive to buy a Nano.
Might be good with words, but not with the math…
“will soon be remedied through software updates”
That’s not what the Apple notice said. That’s conjecture and should be stated as such in the article.
Palm should know that could happen… and by the way, what’s the problem?
iTunes is iTunes, and the other just make their one….
I’ve got a BlackBerry, and it’s possible to sync with iTunes PlayList but it’s a diferent program that push info from iTunes…
It’s an Apple right!
I synced a dozen songs to my pre with iTunes once and dont care to ever do it again, my pre is a business device not an mp3 player (specially with the crappy batt life). I guess the teenagers will be upset though.
I personally like the freedom of having an ipod without having to use what I consider bloatware (itunes). So the linux options are always good – which I assume will work with the pre as well since it seems they do not want to lock their software.
I’m not sure of the business model that locks itunes to the ipod, the ipod/zune their respective software, etc. But, whatever.
Funny, because I would happily buy an iPhone or Pre without any linkages to that deadweight called iTunes.
Security updates or not, i have iTunes set to ask my permission before downloading updates. All I have to do is say “no”.
The Pre syncs fine with iTunes, but Windows media player can be used as well. If you don’t want to use that one? They can always join up with winAmp as it has plenty of users.
Sounds great Ipod .I think it’s a security updates .
Have no fear, Mark/space also known as MIssing sync has developed a software application that will sync your palm pre, for a very reasonable cost of about 40 dollars.
Here is the link:
http://www.markspace.com/products/pre/mac/palm-pre-sync-overview.html
Take all your favorites with you — from your Mac to your Palm Pre
The Missing Sync works with Mac applications you already know and use — Address Book, iTunes, iCal, Entourage, Safari and iPhoto — to let you transfer and sync information and files between your Mac and Pre.
I just find it hilarious that the writers for a tech-oriented blog see another model of phone so potentially detremental to their Apple-fanboy status that they have to continue to make completely uneducated blog entries like this one.
Wake up! It’s a phone. Even if it’s an amazing phone, it won’t destroy your beloved Apple.
I agree, they seem to twist possible scenarios into inevitable outcomes. It appears that some of the writers are hoping that the Pre does not do well. I am still clueless as to why the Apple fans find it so offensive that a non-apple device is compatible with itunes. It’s not like the Pre depends on itunes for music sync or runs on apple code or anything. It’s just one more option for loading music, so what?